The latest news from the world of mobile marketing.

12/18/2015

10 Mobile Marketing Predictions for the New Year

The time to ring in the New Year is fast approaching, resulting in plenty of mobile marketing predictions for 2016. The world is increasingly a mobile-centric place, so what’s likely to happen to this essential industry in the coming months?

1) Apps in the Mainstream

Apps are increasingly the choice advertising avenue for many brands, and have replaced more “traditional” marketing means. Marketers are set to provide more utility and value within their apps, which will become the go-to in regards to customer loyalty and rewards, engagement, and the purchase of goods and services. Management of billing and payments via apps is becoming more commonplace as well. Brands pander to the independent shopper, the jet setter, and the otherwise-very-busy consumer interested in getting what he wants and needs quickly.

2) Ad Unit Evolution

Popular ad units are predicted to evolve seriously in 2016. The user experience is in the forefront of advertiser and publisher minds, causing them to push for more native ad placements. Such ads are less annoying and disruptive to consumers. The days of the one-banner-to-rule-them-all approach are coming to a close, as advertisers will instead focus on options that better match the medium. Users are subsequently engaged rather than distracted.

3) More Fun With Beacons

Beacons and other location-based advertising strategies will continue to grow and thrive in 2016. A Google Eddystone study noted that 85 percent of the top 100 retailers are set to adopt beacon technology by the end of the New Year, with beacons also set to influence some $4 billion of U.S. retail sales.

4) Personalized Messages

Marketers now have the chance to craft the highly personalized messages they want, thanks to data and real-time technologies. Next-generation platforms make it easy for marketers to learn from disparate data sources, pair them with real-time mobile signals—including those for movement and location—and create incredibly personalized “mobile moments” consumers are sure to enjoy.

5) Meaningful Mobile Commerce

The New Year is expected to be the year mobile commerce gets its shot. According to eMarketer , m-commerce sales will increase by 32 percent in 2016, which is much faster than e-commerce.

6) Mobile Budget Increase

The influence mobile is having on this year’s holiday shopping season is paving the way for a huge shift in focus. Forrester Research predicts mobile as the fastest-growing of the digital channels, and suggests brands will use mobile to create “big, hairy, audacious goals.” Evidence of this transition began all the way back in 2014, when Hilton announced a $500 million investment in mobile technologies.

7) Cross Device Tracking and Targeting

The cross device tracking market needs a leader. This means advertisers should use their first-party data in conjunction with third-party data sources to create a comprehensive approach for cross-device tracking and targeting. Working with ad platforms that offer DMP capabilities expedites the process.

8) Mobile-Informed Predictive Decisions

The aforementioned burgeoning importance of location and movement data in “predicting the next best offer” means brands will likely leverage their mobile signals to “sharpen targeting and create look-alike models to reach similar consumers in other digital channels with hyper-relevant offers.” Machine learning allows for further optimization of big data over time.

9) Less Ad Blocking Concern

Advertisers won’t be as intimidated by ad blocking as they used to be. Why? The mobile web doesn’t affect in-app campaigns.

10) Transparency in Programmatic Advertising

Advertisers and publishers alike are calling for greater programmatic advertising transparency. Publishers require improved access to data to determine what ads and companies are the most successful, while advertisers want to know what they’re paying for and obtain that coveted return on investment.